How to keep yourself occupied during a marathon

As I was waiting for the first runner to arrive, I took several photos that I later stitched into this panorama.

It’s 7:27 a.m. All the people in their right minds are sleeping. The rest of us are preparing for the 2018 Monument Marathon in Gering. After I parked my car, I took a picture of these acorn. I’m pretty sure the acorn are still sleeping. My assignment today is to take pictures of each runner of the half and full marathons as they pass by the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

Other animals use this path, too.

I am literally up before the sun.

This is the kind of picture you take when you think, “Shit. Birds,” and you are not prepared to take a photograph.

The sugar factory is doing its thing in Scottsbluff. I suppose I had better get ready to start taking photographs of runners.

So, here I am, ready to work. It’s 7:35 a.m.

The first runner arrives. I nearly missed him because I was writing in my notebook. If it’s like every other year, a group of runners will come in the next 5-7 minutes.

Oh, look. There’s a balloon out there.

While waiting for runners to come by so I can take their pictures, I tried to get artsy. I failed.

Eighty-five minutes into the marathon and I finally have some work to do.

These half-marathoners have three miles to go to the finish line.

In a lull between runners, you notice things, like the rock striations in the Scotts Bluff National Monument and their consistency all around.

The balloon is still up in the sky. I have no zoom lens. I came to take photographs of marathon runners, not balloons in the sky.

Just look at how gorgeous this morning is. The moon is still out. The colors along the ground are a perfect compliment to the Scotts Bluff National Monument. There’s no people in the picture to spoil it. Hey. Wait a minute. Where are all the runners?

The moon will soon set. Visitors will climb the Scotts Bluff National Monument. As a matter of fact there are four people on the path right now. If you are quiet and listen, you can hear them as they traverse the trail from top to bottom.

These bikers typically ride far more than 26 miles during the Monument Marathon. They travel along the route to make sure runners are okay. This was the only time during the day that two of them were together.

A plane flies overheard at 11:16 a.m. I took a picture of some runners, took a picture of this plane, and took more pictures of runners. Planes wait for no one.

With another lull in runners, I turned my attention to the ants to see what they were up to on this fine September morning.

While taking photographs of marathon runners, I heard a buzzing from behind me. Once I realized it was artificial and not coming from a fly, bee, or wasp, I turned around and looked up. I took several pictures as it passed above me. It then hovered for several minutes before going back to where ever it came from.

After the drone left, one of the bicycle volunteers told me that it would be another forty-five minutes before the next runner would be by. Back to the ants I went.

I finally got hungry and decided to eat lunch. I had to eat in between runners. I also did not eat my protein bar. I just wasn’t that hungry.

As I ate my lunch and kept a look out for more marathon runners to come my way, I began to wonder, “What do ants like to eat?” I was eating a sugar snap pea at the time, so I bit off a piece and tossed it a few inches from their nest. These two came to check it out. These ants do not like sugar snap peas.

The ants may not have liked sugar snap peas, but, within thirty seconds of dropping a piece of yolk from my hard-boiled egg, two ants had arrived. A few minutes later, there were several ants eager to take a piece.

I followed this ant as it weaved its way back home. It was making a large delivery of boiled egg yolk. I’m sure he was going to be rewarded well.

The ant disappears back into its nest to deliver the tasty boiled egg yolk. This all happened while I was still waiting for a runner to come by. The last 10-15 runners are usually an hour or more behind the next slowest runners. One needs entertainment. Nature is always the best kind.

A fly came by to get in on the free food.

The fly tried to beat me in a stare down, but, really. You can’t beat me. I won. Also, I was not distracted by free food and ants trying to chase me away from said food.

I took a few more photographs of runners as they trotted and walked by me. Then, a red ant traversed across the imprint my shoe had made in the ground.

This is my favorite photograph from the day. I love the shadow the red ant casts upon the ground.

While waiting for the last two runners to pass in front of me, I glanced over at the wheat blowing in the wind. This caterpillar caught my eye as it moved swiftly along the ground. This was the best picture I could get. It moved so fast, I could barely get my settings done on the camera before it scurried past me.

I breathed in deeply and walked in small circles. I was wondering if the last two runners were ever going to go by. I listened to the wind as it gently moved the wild grasses. The crickets were all but silent. A train’s horn could be heard in the distance. So, too, the siren of an ambulance. Then, I heard a squeaking. I walked along the trail in front of the monument and there they were. My friends, the prairie dogs. I did not have my zoom lens with me, so you will have to squint to see them.

With the last runner officially past me, I gathered my gear and my lunch bag, said goodbye to all the ants who kept me company for the last six hours, and walked the quarter of a mile back to my car. I stopped for one more photo of the Scotts Bluff National Monument before returning to the office to sort through 2,221 photos I had taken this day.